The problems of where to send the Six Nations trophy on Saturday - Rome or Paris - has been overcome by a decision to send a replica to one of the grounds.

The Daily Telegraph reported that a meeting on Monday discussed the conundrum and decided it was not possible to get the actual trophy to the right place given the different scenarios. If France beat Ireland in the late kick-off it is likely that England, assuming they beat Italy in the earlier game, will be presented with the cup more than four hours after the end of their match.

In the past where the competition has gone down to the wire, organisers have made the right call and have had the trophy on standby at a midpoint between grounds, but this weekend's ties were considered too close to predict and the venues too far apart.

"We knew this day would come," John Feehan, the Six Nations chief executive, told the newspaper. "The reality is we can't be sure where it is going to be won. In the past we were lucky … we got away with it and sooner or later our luck would run out and it wouldn't look good if we didn't have a trophy to present to the winners.

"The replica is exactly the same as the original trophy, the only difference is the water-mark."